Art: Loving Vincent

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Loving Vincent is a most pleasing combination of painting and film produced by Polish studio BreakThru Films and Trademark Films. Its visual style evokes that of Van Gogh and it flows from scene to scene effortlessly. Here's a trailer--

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According to The Reel --

Vincent Van Gogh’s obsession with his art might have caused him tremendous personal agony, but his output was tremendous – almost 900 paintings, many of which are counted among the greatest works of all time. In a new tribute to Van Gogh, the makers of an animated documentary will feature 120 of his most famous paintings.

Breakthru Films (still working on their online presence) won several awards for another film, Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" (2006), a stop-motion animation. It was released in the U.S. as an adaptation by Suzie Templeton and won an Academy Award. Here's a taste:

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This concept trailer for Loving Vincent, published by Solar Pictures, has some interesting points to make. Needless to say perhaps, but there is a theory that Van Gogh didn't commit suicide, but was shot. My apologies if this is a spoiler for you.

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-- Marge

Art: The licked finish, the wild beasts, and the cubists in room 41

In 1901 French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau finished this painting:

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William Adolphe Bouguereau, "Rêve-de-printemps" Wikimedia Commons

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Bouguereau was a well-respected, successful artist, and lifetime member of L'Académie française. Quoting from Wikipedia --

 ...To many, he epitomized taste and refinement, and a respect for tradition. To others, he was a competent technician stuck in the past. Degas and his associates used the term "Bouguereauté" in a derogatory manner to describe any artistic style reliant on "slick and artificial surfaces", also known as a licked finish. In an 1872 letter, Degas wrote that he strove to emulate Bouguereau’s ordered and productive working style, although with Degas' famous trenchant wit, and the aesthetic tendencies of the Impressionists, it is possible the statement was meant to be ironic.

Also in 1901, 71 paintings by Vincent Van Gogh were shown at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris.  According to History.com, "In his lifetime, he had sold only one painting."  That painting was "The Red Vineyard."

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Van Gogh, The Red Vineyards," Wikimedia Commons

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By 1904, beginning with les Fauves (the wild beasts), representational art began to lose its hold on the art world.  Les Fauves were

a loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1904–1908, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain.

In 1907 a "Cézanne retrospective at the Salon d'Automne greatly affected the avant-garde artists of Paris, resulting in the advent of Cubism" (Wikipedia). This style by Cezanne was of particular interest of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.

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Paul Cezanne, "Bibemus Quarry, Wikimedia Commons

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In room 41 of the Autumn Salon of 1911, Picasso and Braque introduced cubism and the break from representational art was made.

[Cubism] abandoned perspective, which artists had used to order space since the Renaissance. And it turned away from the realistic modeling of figures and towards a system of representing bodies in space that employed small, tilted planes, set in a shallow space (The Art Story)."

Here is a familiar work of Picasso's showing analytic cubism and painted about the same time:

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Pablo Picasso, "Woman Playing Guitar," Wikimedia Commons

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For good information on art and art movements, take a look at The Art Story.

-- Marge